Looking back to my high school days, I remember pagers were the “coolest thing since sliced bread”. It was the “in-thing” to be paged by someone from an unusual number, then you’d have to pull over at a gas station or convenient store to used the pay phone, call the number back just to find out they had the wrong pager number! Yup, those were the days!
Now, let’s fast forward about 15 years to the present when people donning pagers are laughed at like the guy wearing a fanny pack. Not only that but when was the last time you actually used a payphone? Times have definitely changed. Long gone are the days of Atari 64, Brick Cellphones and Swatch Watches! Now we have smart cellphones, digital cameras and DVR’s that are more common in every household than fire extinguishers.
Being the technology addict that I am, I am always in awe when I see some of the new gadgets that are not only cool to have and play with but they also make day to day life much easier and convenient. Computers are a NECESSITY in my day to day world. Not only do I use them personally but it would be virtually impossible for me to get anything done in my line of work without one. As much as technology has evolved over the last decade, computers have evolved even more. My first computer was a Gateway with a 6GB hard drive… and that was the biggest hard drive available at the time. Nowadays, my Adobe Creative Suite is about 6 GB by itself! So, here we are with all these technological advancements and we think that there is no way things could get any more advanced right? Wrong, my friend!
Microsoft has been the subject of more criticism in the past than George W. Bush; well maybe not that much. However, getting a glimpse of the Microsoft Surface platform has got me wide-eyed and anxious like a kid at Christmas looking at a present so big that it couldn’t fit under the tree. If you haven’t seen the Microsoft Surface tabletop platform in action take a look…
I have already added a few of these to the blueprint plans for my “Green Dream Home” (that’s a whole other blog post in itself) and it’s already on my personal goal sheet. Microsoft has been working on this platform since 2001. That was not a typo… 2001! That is very surprising to me because Microsoft has always been know in the past to release things TOO EARLY (Office, XP, Vista, etc… you get the idea)! The fact that they are taking their time with their releases these days shows me that they are listening to their biggest assets – their users like you and me. Windows 7 is another example of Microsoft learning from their past blunders. It is set to, in my opinion, replace Windows Vista. If you haven’t already tried the beta version of Windows 7, read this blog and check it out.
I want to point out a few of the things that really impressed me most about the Microsoft Surface™. First, I love the fact that you don’t need to have 8 USB ports in order to get digital files from your camera, cellphone or camcorder to the tabletop interface itself. The way it “pulls” the files wirelessly by placing the device on the table is genius. There in nothing cool about a PC with 9 different USB ports with different USB cables plugged into each one of them! I have a 9 month old daughter that has been walking for a month now. She will have a field day pulling these plugs out to chew on them!
The other thing I REALLY like is the fact that this will be more like a topic of conversation than just your regular coffee table. I can see my daughter fingerpainting on it one minute and then learning her colors on it the next – functional and educational all in one. It looks very easy to use and super responsive. I’m going to be switching my wireless carrier from Verizon to AT&T sometime in the next year (need global coverage). I plan on going to Atlanta when I make this change and oddly enough there is a Microsoft Surface™ in use at three AT&T stores there. I’ve got that date circled on my calendar!
The future looks very bright and I’m looking forward to being apart of it. Check out a glimpse of what the future has to offer…
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